Star Wars Destinies

A Stim Junkie's Perspective

Sirahn entered the sequence that would shut down the Fang’s engines. Sparing a moment to glance into the landing bay, he was not surprised to see that Maru hadn’t lost her touch as a hostess. Half a dozen or so guards poured in from the various exits all brandishing blasters.
“Heh, just wait until they see what’s coming down the ramp,” the Sluissi chuckled as he pictured five angry Wookies charging the Black Sun battle line. Sirahn knew that they’d be able to take care of themselves while he attended to some pre-battle preparations. The ‘meds’ he’d taken during the pitched battle outside of the station were already starting to fade. ’Can’t go take out a Black Sun Vigo without a little help, now can we?
Blaster fire and Wookie bellows erupted from beyond the transparasteel, but Sirahn was too busy calculating the precise mixtures of the stims to care. Proximity to violence might’ve bothered him in the past, but those days were far behind him. The reptilian glanced down to his utility belt where his vibrorapier hung nonchalant and heedless of the fact that it would soon taste the blood of vile criminals once again.

Emerging from the YT-1300’s ramp, Sirahn yelled up to the pilots to stay and guard the ship. If things went bad, their little outfit would at least need a speedy exit strategy. Shorbecca’s family was tied up with a couple of thugs while the master of disaster himself engaged several of Maru’s men all by his lonesome. The bestial warrior had already taken a couple of hits if the carbon scoring on his armor was any indication; it was only a matter of time until their enemies were lying in pieces, but Sirahn thought that expediting the process would mean moving onto the next objective before reinforcements arrived. A nigh imperceptible hum emitted from his hands as his hungry blade came to life. . .

It wasn’t long before the bay was cleared of their foes, but in order to stop the lieutenant from escaping, Shorbecca had cleaved through the lift controls with his axe. Turning to what he does best, Sirahn broke out his tool kit to manually open the way into the central control area. Much to his chagrin, the doors were unresponsive.
“Shorbecca, could you. . .?” the Sluissi trailed off while motioning toward the stubborn door. The Wookie was quick to oblige. The metal groaned as slowly but surely, the doors were forced apart. It was not to last however, as something in the room beyond had breached the transparasteel and now the greedy void was consuming all the atmosphere it could.

A few minutes later, all was well. The crew had control of the main computer terminal, but it did them little good as Sirahn quickly found out that Maru must have at least half a dozen slicers doing their best to keep him locked out. What little information he was able to glean, he passed around to the others in order to plan the next move. Sirahn, Shorbecca, and the rest of the Wookies would head to engineering where they would lay the ground for their (last resort) bargaining chip. If Maru wasn’t amenable. . . boom! The others would go upwards in hopes of confronting Maru to bring her the joyous news that this place would soon be under new management, or erased from existence.

“The fools are using blasters in the reactor control room!?” Sirahn asked no one in particular. He knew a stray shot could cause a chain reaction that might cause plan B, with or without their consent. But this was right about the time that the decking rumbled beneath their feet. There had been a massive explosion somewhere else in the station! Sirahn took a moment to make sure that the situation wasn’t about to get infinitely worse. The Sluissi’s sensitive tail felt the vibrations die down and was pretty sure everything would be fine. He wondered what kind of trouble the Captain and the droid got themselves into this time.
Already injured, the fighting was tough in the cramped quarters. Sirahn saw one of Shorbecca’s family members go down; the others loosed a bone-rattling howl and continued to pummel the dwindling Black Sun guards.

Iaco Tabanne's personal log

I awaken in the medbay to a dull throbbing, but otherwise, I seem to be fine. The turbolift doors seem to have taken some of the heat from the thermal detonator — whew. I spend the next few days recuperating in my new quarters. I begin to feel some regret for the loss of life in my hasty decision to end Maru Jakkar, once and for all… and I feel anger. Anger that she forced my hand — that she had made the decision for me — leaving me no choice, but I knew this wan’t the truth of it: this was my call. After a few days, and some meditation, I managed to access to the holocron that Master Ren Do had given me, and I learned of another Master. I knew I had to seek him out!

Later, I sense someone at my door and readied myself for a confrontation. When the door slides open, I see that scumbag, Streen. He says that the Arkanian Dominion is willing to accept payment for my bounty… this could be a good thing. Expensive, but good. I don’t trust this guy, though. I’d better watch my back — and get to work.

We managed to find some work, and along the way to the job, I make a pit-stop on Malazis to look for master Varen; the Jedi who had instructed Master Ren Do. I reached out with the Force and sensed him — his presence was strong! Master Varen is an enlightened being, with a gentle way about him. It probably comes naturally to him, though, as he is some sort of living tree — but he has helped me to better control my feelings through meditation. It’s a struggle for me, because I know that Maru deserved what she got….

There is no emotion; there is peace. There is no passion; there is serenity.

Truncated

Montage of Bixin’s followers heavy heartedly saying their fond farewells. Fade to repairs and renovations as crew and supplies from the Iso One funnel into the station. Screen wipe to interviews of new station personnel. :Redacted:

Insert Bixin’s oil bath here.

:Redacted:
Bixin climbs aboard the Krayt Fang and settles into the pilots chair and performs checks while listening to Sirahn talk about tracking down his old associate.

Screen wipe to Iaco shooting off into hyperspace and cruising the atmosphere of a barren planet and feeling with his space magic for some long lost master. His feelings tell him that he’s on the wrong side of the planet. Classic Iaco! He zooms around to the other side and then meets a groovy tree Jedi. They talk and he begins his training by taking off his shoes and digging his toes into the soil.

Screen wipe to the Krayt Fang coming out of hyperspace right on top of the star port station and freaking the personnel out. We dock and have a small confrontation with the port control as Bixin somehow confuses them with an valet service. We then take a shuttle planet side and a small droid flies out and almost hits Sirhan! The party then wanders around from outfitter to repair shack asking about his query.
The party is directed out west to a cliff face. After a small bit of athletics we enter a small chasm and open a secret door. Inside, we are confronted by a hall flanked by archaic and mismatched droids.
Everyone is scared and Bixin hides!

Recap

Maru is dead!

Much rejoicing. Big party to celebrate the heroes.

PCs discuss their new space station. (lots of time spent discussing details)

Reom purchases The Lockbox off the PCs.

Spend money upgrading the station and making repairs on ships and hiring help. A Bartender, 3 mechanics, a doctor, a merchant, and a pilot join the newly named The Last Resort space station (and Maru’s Folly cantina!).

Shorbecca takes the small shuttle and helps find his family a place to settle since Kashyyyk is still occupied by Imperial Forces.

Iaco is finally able to access the holocron of Master Ren Do and continues his training.

PCs then decide to pursue their side missions. Iaco travels to Melazis seeking Master Varen. while the rest of the crew travel to Quesh seeking Sirahn’s old friend Usa’an.

Recap

The cockpit hatch slides back and raises, letting me exit the fighter. I look around expecting to see immediate resistance, but surprised not to have a greeting party. I looked over to Iaco and Bob getting out of the Y-wing and disembarked the Goldstar myself.

After I hit the floor, I switch my routines over to recon. I slide over to the wall and peek around the corner. Just at that time, a group of meatbags slide out brandishing blasters.
Grouped as they were, I figured that I’d be able to cut them down easily. I slip around the corner and offer them a chance to surrender. I was met with resistance and more than a few direct hits. These men were well trained. I fire off shots at them and begin to evade. These meatbags even had the presence of mind to spread out, so I switched out to the electrostaff and proceeded to beat them into submission. Meanwhile, Iaco is mucking about some boxes doing some thing or another.

Curious to see what lies behind the next door, I open it up and see more people scurrying around preparing for our assault. It wasn’t looking good. I had just applied some emergency repair tape over my blaster scoring and wasn’t quite ready to take on a room of combatants by myself. Luckily, one of the idiots firing upon me, his shot went wide and pierced the glass below causing the air to be sucked out of the room. I engaged my magboots and pressed ahead waiting for the organics to suffocate to death. One or two were even blown out into space. That was hilarious, but blast doors came down and they met me in combat!

Another funny thing about that, a furious furry wall of wookies burst out of a turbo lift and destroyed enemy combatants. After that, we regrouped and then split up for our tasks. Iaco had joined me with a squad of Bobs and we went up…
The doors slid open to reveal the command center with Maru in the middle of it. I was just about to toss in a trio of stun grenades when out of nowhere, Iaco lobs a thermal detonator into the room! Oh, the glorious excitement my circuits felt at that sight! That is, until it went off too soon and the fiery explosion blast into the turbolift at us.

Iaco Tabanne's personal log

I feel the Force guiding my actions as my Y-Wing comes to a stop in the Black Sun station’s hanger bay. I open up in the cockpit, and immediately see Black Sun goons swarming our position, but I manage to take a couple of them out with Jalene (my trusty DL-44). I hop down and take cover as my jet-pack’s fuel tank is bone dry; meanwhile, my gunner takes out another thug.

We move into the control room, and I have R2-A6 check the computer terminal for any info on Maru, while I refuel my jet-pack in the hanger — you never know when a quick getaway is in order — when I hear blaster fire coming from the central hub, and then a sharp whistling sound. I quickly head toward the commotion, and see a full-on battle raging, as blast doors seal a breach in the observation area. There’s a brief shootout and our assault force gains control of the room. We begin working to locate Maru, and formulating a strategy, when a rush of Black Sun commandos starts laying into us. I hop up from my hasty cover, and blast a group of enemies into space dust. I can see that BX-1N is engaged in a match with what looks like a Tera Kasi master, but I don’t have a clean shot. I leap into action with my father’s lightsaber and get the martial artist’s attention — BX-1N uses the distraction to end the villain’s cage-match career, and we manage to win another battle.

We decide to take a lift to the top, in search of Maru. Along the way, I have an odd feeling — a bad feeling — I sense something, but I can’t put my finger on it. When the turbo-lift doors open, my trepidation becomes manifest: the room is full of Black Sun gunmen, and there is Maru, calling for our deaths. Thinking quickly, I toss the thermal detonator I picked up from a shady merchant on Nar Shaddaa at Maru, but the piece of junk goes off early. I try to protect my friends from the blast, but everything goes black…

Recap

The fight against the Pyke slavers in the mine on Ventooine continues…

The Zygerrian slave master seems unstoppable, using his neuronic whip he is able to weaken the wookiee Shorbecca! With a snap-hiss the blue blade of a lightsaber comes to life at the hands of Iaco. Iaco attempts to sunder the whip with his more powerful weapon, but the cramped conditions in the mine cart Iaco misses the weapon but gouges the chest of the Zygerrian. He screams out in pain and orders the other slavers to fall back. That is when an idea strikes Sirahn! He takes cover behind some crates and tosses some of the detonite explosives at the fleeing slavers. The ensuing blast immediately destroys those in the area. However, Sirahn’s throw also caught Shorbecca and Iaco in the blast. Fortunately Shorbecca was able to shrug off most of the damage, but Iaco, despite being in a durasteel mine cart, was sent sprawling and knocked unconscious.

The blast ended the fight, the remaining slavers fled deeper into the mine away from where the slaves were being held. The PCs were able to rescue the slaves along with several members of Shorbecca’s family; his uncle, aunt, and niece. Upon reviving Iaco, however, Sirahn found himself faced with a tirade from the arkanian. Iaco was very unhappy that Sirahn would risk the lives of his fellow comrades like that and suggested that he might be becoming unstable.

Despite the high tensions, everyone still left the system together to rendezvous with the transport, The Lockbox. With the combined now free people gathered aboard The Lockbox, tensions still remained high. Iaco was still fuming over the incident on Ventooine. Meanwhile Bixin and Sirahn tried to rally the slaves into fighting for them. When a plea to fight for their freedom wouldn’t work, Sirahn resorted to threats on their lives. That is when Iaco stepped in and took over. He was able to ally the fears of some of the former slaves and even convinced a handful to aid the PCs in their attack against Maru.

The PCs spend the next several hours formulating a plan to assault Maru’s space station. Timing was of concern, but in the end they decided to wait until they had figured Maru had heard of the lose at Ventooine and would be awaiting them on the space station, Mir’U.

Like clockwork, the PCs launch their attack! Arriving in space near the station, they find several Z-95 starfighters and a Gozanti cruiser waiting for them. A smart tactical move by Iaco sends the cruiser after The Lockbox, which provides and opening for the more nimble ships to slip through the defenses and quickly board the space station. Yet in separate docking bays! While the Lockbox flees and jumps away to the rendezvous point!

Recap

In space over Ventooine…

Iaco and Shorbecca flying in the old BTL-B Y-wing fighter engage the Black Sun Gozanti cruiser called The Vibroknife! Firing concussion missiles while trying to avoid the laser fire from the starfighter escort.

Sirahn has the astromech droids running wild on the Krayt Fang in an effort to engage the Black Sun forces.

While Bixin remains engaged in a ferocious dogfight with another Black Sun starfighter, eventually gaining the upper hand and destroying the fighter.

After a very close call from a concussion missile fired by The Vibroknife, the PCs decide to break off their attack and commandeer the Black Sun slave transport ship, The Lockbox. After having a difficult time docking with the transport everyone is able to get aboard but at different locations. When the airlocks open into the dark and spooky ship, they find a small squad of Black Sun slavers waiting for them. However, the thugs are quickly dispatched by all except Sirahn. Sirahn is frightened and retreats back into the Krayt Fang. He hides in a smuggling compartment and pulls himself together. Meanwhile, Bixin picks up one of their comlinks and begins to demoralize the the rest of the Black Sun thugs. This causes enough of a distraction that Sirahn is able to sneak up to a couple of them and eliminate them.

Sirahn then devises a plan to distract the thugs that had boarded the Krayt Fang and force them into a central location. He then secures all the hatches and opens the cargo doors blasting the rest of the Black Sun goons into the cold vacuum of space. He is able to regroup with the others as they have just taken over the bridge.

After stowing the prisoners from the bridge, Shorbecca takes the Krayt Fang and the starfighters and tries to fly in casually at a distance from the slave transport. Shortly thereafter, the Black Sun freighters carrying the slaves from the Pyke Syndicate return. Iaco convinces them that everything is fine and they dock and begin offloading slaves. Two of the groups of slavers load the slaves into cargo pods. However, Iaco is just finished stuffing their captives from the bridge in a closet when the blast doors open to reveal a group of slavers. Iaco bumbles his way through a series of hilarious Deception checks but Sirahn convinces them he is essentially tech-support! Through the confusion sewn by Iaco and Sirahn they are able to split the group by getting the blast door to close between them. Sirahn is able to finish off the two black sun goons he has and through a cramped gunfight in the small bridge Iaco is able to finish off the slavers on his side of the door.

Everyone regroups to the bridge (except Shorbecca) and through another combined effort on behalf of Iaco and Sirahn they are able to convince the remaining Black Sun ships that there is a hyperspace anomaly and their ships need to take an alternate (longer) route back to Mir’U Space Station.

Meanwhile, on The Lockbox in hyperspace, the PCs capture three Z-95 pilots and free the slaves. Among the slaves is a wookiee who turns out to be Grawrar, Shorbecca’s cousin. He tells a sad story that they still have some family members enslaved back on the surface of Ventooine and he fears they will not survive after the ordeal that just transpired; the Pykes may suffer revenge upon the slaves!

After 3 days in hyperspace the trip is cut short to rendezvous with Set. Command of The Lockbox is given over to Set while the rest of the group takes the Krayt Fang and attempts a rescue of Shorbecca’s family.

Back on Ventooine, Grawrar navigates the PCs to the caves his family was last known to be mining in. Immediately the PCs destroy the comm tower and force the slavers into the cave. The assault begins with the slavers slowly backing further and further into the cave . . .

Recap

On Tatooine…

Bixin and Sirahn discuss their next moves, while Shorbecca recovers on the Krayt Fang. There is some discussion about following a lead Sirahn has that leads to Quesh in Hutt space. Bixin asks some probing questions of Sirahn as to his past connection with this guy who has allegedly sabotaged their ship. Sirahn answers nervously about how he betrayed his best friend and destroyed their designs for a new starfighter. Ultimately, Sirahn suggests waiting until Shorbecca is fully recovered before investigating Quesh.

Meanwhile on Dorin…

Iaco, having sold his landspeeder to cover the loss of the speeder bike he rented, now finds himself hunted by Stormtroopers and must sneak his way through the city to the space port. However, the Empire has setup check points at the space station and is checking the identification of all coming and going. Iaco tries to sneak around the check point but is discovered by a solitary Stormtrooper. Thinking quickly, Iaco uses the Force to influence the Stormtrooper and convinces him to not only let him pass but escort him to the shuttle. However, Iaco arrives on the space station to find yet another Imperial checkpoint. He has A6 pull up a schematic of the station and finds an out of the way vent shaft that he can crawl through. A6 being the small astromech he is has no problem breezing past the security checkpoint. The boxed text! :

The docking bay is quiet except for a quiet metal clink, then a thump, repeated over and over. You then see a tall skinny human with bushy black hair dressed in trendy spacers clothes leaning against your Y-wing, smoking a death stick, and flipping a credit chip in the air: clink, thump. “You might as well surrender now.” he casually says. “Even if you get past me my friends will stop you once you launch. So make this easy will ya?” You recognize this guy! This is the same bounty hunter that brought you to the Arkanians the last time!

Iaco’s gut reaction is to saunter up to this guy and blast him, but he pauses, he had just underwent some intense training to be a Jedi and instead decides to try to use the Force to influence this bounty hunter into letting him pass. The bounty hunter’s mind is too strong however and realizes what Iaco is doing, he quickdraws his pistols and fires at Iaco! The shot goes wide as the bounty hunter (Streen) stumbles backward from being caught off guard by his opponent. Iaco quickdraws and blasts Streen, scoring a strong hit that burs his fancy spacers clothes. Iaco then jumps in the cockpit of his Y-wing and calls for A6. At that moment A6 comes speeding into the hangar bay and maneuvers into the astromech socket of the ship. Streen dives for cover behind the fusion generator refueling tanks and pops a stimpack. Iaco punches it and speeds away. However, once in space A6 detects a transport bearing down on them. They set a course and speed away to Nar Shaddaa, evading the bounty hunter transport!

Everyone eventually regroups back to the safety of IsoTech’s flagship: IsoOne.

While on IsoOne, Shira gathers everyone together to a meeting with Reom and Grinner…

“Thank you for coming.” Reom says grimly. “Unfortunately I do not have good news. As I mentioned to Iaco previously, a number of our shipments have been intercepted over the past several weeks. After some digging I have discovered that the attacks have been carried out by agents of Black Sun. These set backs have begun to eat into our profits. Despite the cutting edge tech Cratala is coming up with, we just don’t have any demand because we can’t protect shipments. Our usual freighter captains are also distancing their selves from us, leaving us in a poor position. We have another large shipment headed to Corellia in 12 days, if it doesn’t get there I am not sure we will be able to recover. And the odds do not sound promising.”
Reom looks over at Grinner, who then looks to you and says, " Yes, there has been some new information that has come to light. The questions you asked the last time we met sparked my interest so I did some digging. I discovered that it is indeed Maru who ordered the attacks on the IsoTech shipments, but that is just the tip of the iceberg! As you may know she has been forcibly taking over slaving operations from the Pykes. She has been successful up to now thanks to YOUR help. It appears she only needs to make one more major move and that is to strike at the heart of their operations at Ventooine. I’ve also learned that she has been selling these slaves to the Empire. Which is interesting since the Empire’s official stance is: slavery is illegal. She must have the support of someone powerful within the Empire if such moves are sanctioned. The Empire’s policies are so strict the Hutts are forced to keep their slaving operations within Hutt space. Anyway, if you want to hurt her you could intercept or disrupt her plans to attack the Pykes. And if you really wanted to hurt her you could sneak aboard her space station and blow it up. If you really, really wanted to hurt her you could attack her at the casino and force her to flee to the space station THEN blow it up! Up to you guys though. Since The Lucky Dice is essentially her stronghold you’d have to force her out of there and cause her to flee to Bakura so she has no ground to go to. Finding all this out cost me some resources and put me on her radar, so I’ll be avoiding Nar Shaddaa for a bit and laying low."
Reom picks up where Grinner left off, “If you do not deal with Maru, and before our next shipment goes out, IsoTech may be ruined. This business is our life.” He glances at Shira who nods in agreement. “Started by our father it is all that remains of our family, we CAN’T lose it.”

The PCs spend some time discuss a plan and eventually decide to interrupt Maru’s take over of the Pyke Syndicate’s operation on Ventooine and destroying her space station. The plan is to: rescue the slaves, commandeer the slave transport ship, use that transport ship to travel to and sneak aboard her space station, free the slaves on the space station, and then destroy the station.

With the plan decided the PCs decide to head out early to attempt to arrive before Maru’s attack begins. (With a great Astrogation roll) the PCs arrive in the Ventooine system a full day and a half before Maru’s fleet arrives.

Before then however, the PCs decide to try to land on the surface of the planet to intercept Maru’s forces on the ground. However, they are intercepted in orbit by Pyke Syndicate forces that actually dock with and board The Krayt Fang. Through some crazy (and hilarious) negotiations between the Pyke’s, Sirahn and Shorbecca, the PCs are told to leave the system and the Pykes storm off in a huff!

The PCs regroup and hide out at the edge of the system…

Eventually they detect Black Sun star ships enter the system and begin their attack. The PCs move to sensor range (medium) and debate what to do. However, Bixin grows tired of the debate and takes the Gold Star (Z-95 starfighter) to join the battle. He hails the Pykes and offers his abilities free of charge. Thus the fight is joined! Iaco, along with Shorbecca, in the Y-wing begin an attack run on the Black Sun flagship, The Vibroblade. Black Sun Z-95s engage the PCs and Pyke starfighters. Maru clearly has the superior force over the Pyke Syndicate, but with the PCs in the battle the outcome is uncertain!